above, in the 1930s, Airstream wasn’t restricted to just making the aluminum bread loaf shaped trailers we instantly think of when imagining an “Airstream”

Photography from the estate of Helen Byam Schwamborn, courtesy Dale Schwamborn, who is Wally Byam’s cousin once removed.

Dale was on many early Airstream caravans with Wally and was an advance scout on the famed African Caravan expedition. Dale’s mother, Helen Byam Schwamborn, worked at Airstream and formed the Wally Byam Caravan Club.

On Thursday, September 7, 2017 at about 9:30 am, the Pepin County Sheriff’s Office had report of a disabled semi unit on USH 10 near the Pepin/Pierce County Line west of Durand.

The semi unit had left St. Paul, Minnesota at approximately 7 pm on September 6th destined to deliver its load to a location in Neenah, WI.

At about 8 pm two tires blew out on the semi-trailer where it became disabled.

The driver contacted a tire repair service to respond to the scene to replace the tires. The repair service was not able to lift the trailer in order to change the tires due to its weight. The following morning a second repair service attempted to change the tires. That service contacted a heavy tow truck operator to lift the rear of the trailer to allow the tire changes. The tow operator contacted the Pepin County Sheriff’s Office to advise them of the obvious overweight issue. Pepin County Deputies then requested a State Patrol unit to assist. Sergeant Wm. Berger responded to the scene to assist.

The initial tow truck was not able to lift the rear of the trailer so a second, larger 50 ton rotator tow truck responded and was able to lift the rear of the trailer to change the tires. Due to the extreme flexing of the frame and the potential for a catastrophic failure of the trailer frame system extra blocking and jacks had to be used to support the center the trailer while it was being lifted.